He stood with his head slightly forward, shoulders curved, and rubbed a palm across his forehead. When he spoke his voice was shaking and I could tell that he was fighting to calm it.

‘Something terrible has just happened,’ he said, and then paused for a couple of seconds before continuing. ‘Dave Prentiss has been shot and I’m afraid … I’m afraid he’s dead.’

I felt my heart crumble in my chest and a cold flush went over my skin. I heard someone gasp and someone else swore.

‘It occurred at his home in Battersea,’ Drummond went on. ‘The killer struck when Dave opened his front door.’

My throat tightened with shock, and the question I wanted to ask wouldn’t come out. I started shaking my head, finding it hard to grasp what Drummond had said.

Surely it must be a mistake, I told myself. Dave can’t be dead. I saw him yesterday, gave him a card and congratulated him on the birth of his baby.

Behind me one of the female support staff gave an anguished cry and burst into tears. Drummond looked at her and the lines between his eyes deepened.

I cleared my throat and found my voice.

‘What else do you know, guv?’ I said.

He hunched his shoulders. ‘Not much at this stage except that his wife and child were at the house when it happened but they’re unharmed. And there’s no sign of the perp. I’m going straight there now.’

‘I’d like to come with you,’ I blurted out.

He nodded. ‘Fine. The rest of you start bashing the phones. Inform your colleagues before they hear it on the news and get them all in. Also, liaise with Wandsworth nick. They’ve assigned a DCI Resnick to the case. He’s already at the scene.’

Drummond signalled for me to get ready, then went back into his office to get his coat. But for several seconds I couldn’t move. It felt like a large stone was crushing my chest.

Someone placed a hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Are you OK, Laura?’

I turned. It was Janet Dean and her face had lost all its colour.

‘I can’t believe it,’ I said. ‘This is so bad.’

‘I know. It’s awful.’

I breathed in deep through my nostrils and tried to compose myself.

‘I have a horrible feeling that this is just the start,’ I said. ‘And that it wasn’t an empty threat after all.’

Janet stared at me and I noticed that her lips had gone white around the edges.

‘Let’s just hope and pray that you’re wrong, Laura,’ she said. ‘Because if you’re not then God only knows how we’re going to stop it from happening again.’

I sat in the back of the patrol car with Drummond as we raced towards Battersea. The siren wailed and the traffic parted to let us through.